Scripps Howard Foundation honors award winners

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CINCINNATI (AP) -- Reports on mismanagement of infant blood tests in the nation's hospitals and on the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records were among the journalistic efforts honored this year by The Scripps Howard Foundation.

The national journalism awards recognize excellence in work done in 2013. Awards totaling $180,000 were being presented Thursday during a dinner in Cincinnati.

The winners:

- Investigative reporting: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for "Deadly Delays," a series that uncovered mismanagement of infant blood tests at hospitals nationwide. Judges praised work that could "save the lives of children around the country."

- Public service reporting: The Guardian US, for "The NSA Files" - coverage led by Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras, with assistance from James Ball and Spencer Ackerman, which involved reporting on the National Security Agency, vetting vast amounts of information and conducting the first exclusive video interview with Edward Snowden.

- Distinguished Service to the First Amendment: The Better Government Association, a Chicago-based nonpartisan, nonprofit news-gathering organization, for work that has fostered open communication for 90 years and, in 2013, produced more than 80 news investigations and follow-up reports.

- Human interest storytelling: Andrea Elliott of The New York Times, for "Invisible Child," a chronicle of a year in the life of one of the city's 22,000 homeless children.

- Breaking news: The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, for "Yarnell Hill Fire," simultaneous coverage of three breaking news stories about a fire that killed 19 firefighters, the destruction of 127 homes and a forced mass evacuation.

- Digital innovation: NPR's Planet Money, for "Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt," a documentary and Kickstarter project that explored the hidden world behind clothing sold in the United States.

- Television/cable in-depth local coverage: KARE-TV in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, for "Unhitched & Out of Control," in which Boyd Huppert and Jonathan Malat led the staff in a public service report that demonstrated the risks, responsibilities - and sometimes deadly consequences - of simply towing a trailer.

- Radio in-depth coverage: This American Life, for "Harper High School." The series by Julie Snyder, Ben Calhoun, Ira Glass, Alex Kotlowitz, Linda Lutton and Robyn Semien documented daily life in a Chicago school that's struggling to thrive in a neighborhood beset by gun violence.

- Community journalism: The Portland (Maine) Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram, for "The Challenge of Our Age," a series that examined the public and private sectors' inability to meet the needs of Maine's aging population and rallied public support for reform.

- Environmental reporting: Craig Welch and Steve Ringman of The Seattle Times, for "Sea Change: The Pacific's Perilous Turn," a five-part series that introduced readers to the dangers of ocean acidification.

- Business/economics reporting: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a division of The Center for Public Integrity, for "Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze." The series of 50 articles involved 112 journalists and 58 media partners worldwide.

- Editorial writing: Tony Messenger and Kevin Horrigan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for deeply researched editorials that exposed political hypocrisy.

- Commentary: Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times, for columns on the beating death of a day laborer and other stories from Seattle that showed how economic realities are undermining the American dream.

- Photojournalism: John Tlumacki of The Boston Globe, for his Boston Marathon portfolio, from bombing images to coverage of survivors as they reclaimed their lives.

- Journalism and mass communication administrator of the year: Lori Bergen from the Diederich College of Communication, Marquette University.

- Journalism and mass communication teacher of the year: Cindy Royal of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas State University.